Your Mac’s New Look: Take a Tour of OS X Mavericks’ Visual Updates

Apple latest desktop operating system is here, and you can download it now.

The free upgrade may look like the OS X you've become accustomed to over the years. Sure, there are no huge top-level design changes that are apparent at first glance. But once you dive in, you'll see enough tweaks in this update to make you do a few double-takes.

More than a few visual elements are taken from iOS and modern web browsers, from tabbed Finder windows to iOS's "Do Not Disturb" feature appearing in Notifications. Overall, Mavericks is a more social and mobile-inspired OS.

Finder Tabs

Many years ago, you could pin Finder windows to the bottom of your screen, until OS X killed that nicety with the introduction of the Dock. But now, tabs are back -- albeit in a more web-browsery fashion. If you use tabs in your browser, the new Finder window tabs will be easy to become accustomed to. They do more than just add a new element to browsing your computer's files; they also make navigation easier on a smaller screen.

The migration from desktop computers to laptops means we're trading screen real estate for portability. Those smaller MacBook screens (even the Retina ones) limit the amount of windows that one can open comfortably in the desktop. With tabbed windows, you can have two main Finder windows open with up to 11 active tabs in each before those tabs become hidden. That's 22 windows available for quick system navigation, all without making a huge design change to the OS.

Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED

Labels and Tags

Another way Mavericks helps keep files in order is by supercharging Finder Labels. Labels have always been a color-coding mechanism for quickly discerning which file or folder is the one you want. Mavericks keeps the quick visual cue, but also adds the ability to associate files together with those tags. A Tag list now sits in the sidebar of every Finder window for quick access to files. Clicking on a tag gives you fast visual sorting of all the files and folders so marked.

These Tags can be added via the Finder window, or while saving a file. No matter where you store a series of files, they can be brought together with the click of a tag. Since files can be tagged multiple times, a single photo or document can be associated with multiple projects without having to save multiple copies in different folders.

Multiple Screens

Spreading your work across multiple screens gives you the opportunity to be more productive. Unfortunately in Mountain Lion, the Dock and menu bar reside on a single screen. Plus, if you use the full-screen mode, the second screen always just became a useless linen screen. Apple has fixed both of these problems inside Mavericks.

With the addition of menu bars and docks across multiple screens, each screen can be treated almost like its own computer. You'll no longer have to navigate to a main screen to use the menu bar for applications in secondary screens. Plus the "screen full of linen" issue is gone. When an application is opened in full-screen mode, it takes over the screen it currently resides in while leaving the other screens as-is.

Interactive Notifications

Introduced in Mountain Lion, Notifications was the one-stop destination for incoming messages and alerts. While you could send status updates to Twitter and Facebook from the Notifications pane, it wasn't exactly a communication center. With Mavericks, the feature becomes a two-way street thanks to quick replies via Interactive Notifications. Plus, the feature has expanded beyond Twitter and Facebook to include LinkedIn (really?) and iMessage quick messaging. All of these services trigger alerts with the option to quickly reply or delete.

By adding these two new options, you can quickly reply to incoming communications without having to navigate to another app. Or, if it's SPAM or an email that doesn't interest you, you can delete it with a click of the button. By making notifications more than just a Growl clone, Apple is creating another system that reduces the amount of application switching that happens while you're communicating with friends and colleagues.

Do Not Disturb

A feature borrowed from iOS, Do Not Disturb removes all those notifications that are stopping you from getting any work done. You can toggle Do Not Disturb on and off from the Notifications center. Or schedule Do Not Disturb to switch on at a particular time from the Notifications system Preferences. That's helpful, but the most important Do Not Disturb feature is something that's ruined almost every presentation since the introduction of PowerPoint.

Do Not Disturb turns on automatically when you're mirroring to a TV or projector. It's a helpful feature hidden away in System Preferences, but it'll keep those awkward "OMG" messages from your buddies from appearing on your screen while sharing a YouTube video with your parents or a presentation with your boss. It also shows that Apple's paying attention to how you're using your Mac and making that experience better without whiz-bang features no one will use in two months.

A More Social Safari

Apple continues its very slow march into social networking by adding more social features to its Desktop OS and bundled apps. Of all the applications that ship with OS X, Safari is the natural fit for a more robust social networking experience. Previously, Safari could push page links to social networks like Facebook and Twitter. With Mavericks, Safari can now also pull from social networks.

Nestled in the Bookmarks along with Reading Lists is Shared Links. The new feature is a feed of links posted by the Twitter and LinkedIn (Again? Really?) accounts you follow. Sadly, there is no Facebook option. The feature won't replace your Twitter client, but it is a handy way to keep abreast of what's going on out there on the tubes.

Apple Maps Goes Desktop

Apple's attempt here is to create an experience that goes beyond what you'd get from Google Maps in the browser. In fact, Mavericks' stand-alone Maps app attempts to recreate the same experience you get using Maps on the iPhone or iPad. The strategy could backfire on the company, as most of us will continue to type the address of location in our browsers and get results from Google Maps. And while you can share directions and locations to your iOS device, having to launch an app just for directions seems like a step backwards.

Calendar Is Right On Time

Nowhere in OS X is the design influence of iOS more prevalent than in the Calendar app. The app no longer looks like it belongs on the desk of the regional manager of a paper company. In its place is a clean, easy-to-read calendar app.

In addition to removing all that graphical bunting, usability has been improved. Editing events is easier with the removal of the edit button -- just double-click on an event to expand it and start editing. Location info from Apple Maps, including travel time, has been added to events, so you'll know where you're going when you head to that meeting across town, and how long it's going to take. Plus, Facebook events are now signified by a tiny Facebook logo. So now know which events you're actually going to attend, and which ones you said "yes" to on Facebook just to be nice.

Screen Sharing Out of the Way

Screen Sharing and Back to Mac are great features. But it would be infuriating if you tried to click on a menu bar item only to have the screen-sharing menu drop down and block your view.

When you're using Mavericks for screen-sharing in full-screen mode, instead of a drop-down that appears as you approach the top of the screen, you just see an Expose action. The shared desktop shrinks back and the drop down menu bar appears. Now you can see what's going on in the shared space while still having access to the sharing features.

Photo: Ariel Zambelich/WIRED

Nicer Notes

The Notes app has dumped the hideous yellow legal-pad look. In Mavericks, we get a more refined light yellow-green textured look. The default font is no longer Noteworthy -- it's now Helvetica. The application still syncs with any notes you've typed into other OS X and iOS devices. Now it'll just do it without burning a hole in your retinas.

By toning down the color and removing even more skeuomorphism, Apple is backing away from the earlier design stumbles. If the Notes app is something Apple truly wants us to use every day, it needed to lose that old yellow look.